The Best Preschool Students Continue Learning at Home
Summer is right around the corner and, as all preschooler parents know, the long months without school or structured activities can be difficult for children to cope with; many can become bored. Many parents think that learning doesn’t continue at home, or during play, but this is a common misconception: your child can’t learn everything at school, even if they attend the best preschool around! Learning is a continuous process and should never be neglected during the summer holidays, especially for younger children. Learning at home doesn’t have to be boring; in fact, the home can provide preschoolers with some really valuable lessons. A particularly good way to get your child to continue working on numbers and arithmetic is to ask them to help you do the cooking. Although cooking may not seem so interesting on the surface, for a preschooler it is the opportunity to count, measure and combine different things. Many daily tasks and activities can be opportunities for your child to learn, especially if you combine them with some skills development; that includes giving them practice in either reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The home is a comfortable place for your child to grow their vocabulary: make reading time a daily activity.
Why learn at home?
Contemporary research into effective education in the early school years has shown that learning is too frequently confined to the walls of the classroom, and this can be detrimental to a child’s development and their school career. Many children aren’t encouraged to apply the knowledge they learn during the week to the activities and games they take part in over the weekend. A successful education requires children to break down the barriers between home and school learning, and this is precisely where parents can help. Summer holidays can become one of the best learning experiences your children can have, and they won’t enter a classroom once! Summer is a great time to get your child into reading, so introduce them to a few classics – or personal favorites – and make an effort to read with them as often as possible. Try to get them thinking about math, too; let them draw up an hourly schedule for the day, ask them to write up grocery lists and keep stock of the food items at home. These are ways to engage your child’s language and numbers knowledge, which will keep them learning all summer long.
Make chores fun
When preschoolers are home for the holidays they spend a lot more time observing the daily tasks of their parents; be it making breakfast, driving to work, fetching the mail, or doing the grocery shopping. The good news is that parents will no longer have to do them alone! Involve your child in your day-to-day errands, which will teach them valuable life advice and also keep their minds engaged while out of the school. As mentioned earlier, cooking is a fun way to learn about measurements and mixing. Getting your child to help keeping the kitchen stocked up with the right food is also a useful learning activity. It’s good to have a balance of mental and physical activities; have your child help with the gardening or other outdoor chores, or learn to play a new sport together. The potential for learning at home is everywhere!